Best Apps for Working Holiday Makers in New Zealand 2026

Working holiday apps at a glance

For jobs, install SEEK and Trade Me, and look at PickNZ for fruit and vegetable seasons. Wise moves money from home cheaply, a New Zealand bank app holds your wages, and a prepaid plan from Skinny, 2degrees, Spark or One NZ keeps you reachable for employers. KiwiCamping covers the nights between jobs, WWOOF and Workaway cover work in exchange for a bed, and the NZTA app helps once you own a car.

Your IRD number, tax code and visa conditions are handled on Inland Revenue and Immigration New Zealand websites. Sort those out first, because an employer needs your IRD number before your first pay.

1. KiwiCamping: best for finding a bed between jobs

Seasonal work moves you around: kiwifruit in the Bay of Plenty, grapes in Marlborough, apples in Hawke's Bay. KiwiCamping is a map of where you can stay on the way, built on DOC's data, with 287 DOC campsites in its August 2026 data and the adult fees DOC lists, from $5 to $25 a night at the sites with a published rate. Holiday parks, stays and tours sit on the same map, and costs can be shown in your home currency alongside the New Zealand dollar figure.

Saved places go into collections, and a trip turns them into dated stops with notes and the distance between them, which helps when you are lining up a new job and a place to sleep near it. Place details stay on the phone when signal drops; map tiles, routing, weather and photos need a connection. It is iPhone only, needs iOS 26 or later and has 4 New Zealand ratings (3.8), with no traveller reviews.

2. SEEK and Trade Me: best for finding work

SEEK lists jobs across New Zealand and Australia and lets you apply with a saved profile. It rated 4.7 from 68,389 New Zealand ratings. Trade Me, New Zealand's main marketplace, carries jobs in its main app as well as rentals and cars, and rated 4.6 from 65,564; the older standalone Trade Me Jobs app has not been updated since 2024.

Indeed (4.7 from 4,185) is a third source of listings. On any of them, read the listing for the hours and whether accommodation is offered, which matters more on a working holiday than the job title.

3. PickNZ: best for fruit and vegetable seasons

PickNZ is a job board for fruit and vegetable work, searchable by region and crop, so you can line up the next harvest as the current one ends. Check the start date, the expected hours and how pay is calculated in each listing before you travel to the region.

We found no PickNZ app in the New Zealand App Store, so use the website. Some listings on it are for the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, which is a separate visa for workers from Pacific countries, not for working holiday makers.

4. WWOOF NZ and Workaway: best for work in exchange for a bed

WWOOF New Zealand connects volunteers with organic farms; online membership costs NZ$25 for one person or NZ$30 for a couple and lasts 15 months. WWOOF NZ says you need a working holiday visa to volunteer even without wages, so check the conditions on your own visa with Immigration New Zealand. The international WWOOF app had only 3 New Zealand ratings, so the website is the easier way in.

Workaway covers hosts worldwide, including New Zealand, for a yearly membership from about US$59, depending on the plan; its app rated 4.8 from 144 New Zealand ratings. Both can stretch a budget a long way, but hours and conditions vary by host, so agree them before you arrive.

5. Wise and a New Zealand bank app: best for money

Wise moves money between currencies with a fee that starts at 0.22% of the amount, and its card gives 400 New Zealand dollars a month of free cash withdrawals, then 2.69% above that. It rated 4.8 from 23,432 New Zealand ratings and suits the first weeks before your bank account is running.

Wages go into a New Zealand account. BNZ lets you apply from overseas, ASB does too depending on your country and visa, ANZ lets you open an account before you arrive and activate it at a branch, and Westpac's migrant team can set one up up to 180 days before you move in some circumstances. Their apps rated 4.8 (BNZ, 56,574), 4.7 (Westpac, 24,380), 4.0 (ANZ, 7,946) and 3.2 (ASB, 2,106). A New Zealand bank account also helps your IRD number application.

6. Skinny, 2degrees, Spark or One NZ: best for staying reachable

Employers ring, so a New Zealand number matters. Skinny's app rated 4.4 from 18,813 New Zealand ratings and Skinny sells 52-week prepaid plans from $296; 2degrees prepay starts from $8 a month; its main 2degrees NZ app rated 1.6 from 998, and its Data Clock prepay app 4.7 from 17,570. Spark's app rated 3.7 and One NZ's 2.0.

Coverage away from towns varies by network, so check each provider's coverage map for the regions you expect to work in before choosing.

7. NZTA Waka Kotahi: best once you own a car

If you buy a car or van, for example through Trade Me, the NZ Transport Agency's app shows the vehicles registered to you, tracks registration and WoF expiry dates and your road user charges, and takes rego and RUC payments. It rated 4.8 from 581 New Zealand ratings.

The AA's app (4.4 from 44) holds an AA membership card and Roadservice details if you join. Before buying, check the warrant of fitness and registration dates on the vehicle; our guide to WoF and registration explains both.

The official steps no app does for you

Apply for your IRD number on Inland Revenue's website through myIR; it is free, and new arrivals can usually expect it within two days by text or email. Inland Revenue may ask for a working New Zealand bank account or a customer due diligence form (IR997). Give your employer the number and a tax code on an IR330 form, because without one you are taxed at the 45% non-declaration rate.

Know your conditions too. Since 20 April 2026 working holiday visas carry the condition that you must work for an employer, under an employment agreement or a contract for services, and you cannot employ other people. The adult minimum wage is $23.95 an hour from 1 April 2026 and applies to temporary migrants too. You cannot join KiwiSaver on a temporary or work visa, and holiday pay of 8% on each pay is only allowed for fixed-term work under 12 months or genuinely irregular work, agreed in your employment agreement.

How we chose and checked

We picked the apps that handle the jobs every working holiday maker faces, favouring the most-used option in each category. Ratings come from the New Zealand App Store on 20 October 2026, fees from each provider's own page, and every rule from Immigration New Zealand, Inland Revenue or Employment New Zealand that day.

Visa conditions, funds and lengths differ by passport, so read the page for your own country on immigration.govt.nz. We describe features as each provider does, and a feature not mentioned is not a claim that an app lacks it.

Places along the way